Corkscrewing in non-spider ball pythons

It's been a while since I've posted but thankfully for good reasons. No issues with my snake and she up until recently has been living a nice settled life.

I've noticed in the past few weeks, however, she's started to really corkscrew. She's a pastel super cinnamon so she shouldn't have any spider in her, but I was wondering if this is something that has appeared in other morphs? She's just turning 5 years old so I know she's hitting adult age and size, and I was wondering if that was contributing to it at all.

I was having thoughts that this could be general ball python neurological symptom that can could have multiple causes because she was hatched with a birth defect - completely missing eye - and I am wondering if maybe she's had underlying neurological issues related to that all along and it's just now becoming very pronounced.

She's otherwise been a great eater, sheds regularly, lives in a stable environment though I am looking to upgrade her into a larger enclosure soon this summer since she's outgrown her current one. Is there anything anyone's found to help mitigate it?

Not corkscrewing so much , but star gazing I Have seen in a very few other snakes, like rat snakes even. Its not species specific necessarily
It was many years go when i and others used '''VAPONA'' for mites.(it was the advised thing back in the day) but it was banned many years ago in the Uk as its is a a neurotoxin.
Most recovered in time.
Chemical compounds and some modern mite treatments can cause this if used too much or incorrectly.
Also there can be genetic disorders that can cause this and also those cased by incubation errors in any snake,
These days we have much more information and knowledge regarding these issues.

I also had a spider kind of problem with a hypo variation of the greenish rat snake I created many years ago .the natural intergraded between black and yellow.


Greenish rat snake
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...lowrat_JIM.jpg

My hypo version where some had the problem

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...-FpnYZlutESM3w

I have experienced it in snakes without any of the morphs known for it, but it's never been terribly severe, and in my personal experience can always be linked to a stressor of some kind (spider or not). Has something changed in her environment lately, new enclosure, temp change, more people traffic around her enclosure? At 5 years, it seems an odd time for it to suddenly get worse out of nowhere. It could be a sign something is wrong that isn't readily apparent yet, like an infection or tumor, since reptiles are so good at hiding being sick. If it were me, I'd double check her husbandry is on point, look through her records and see if any weird patterns have been happening, and give her a good once over to make sure I'm not missing an illness.

Even though spider is the one everybody hears about, it's also common in woma, hidden gene woma, sable, and champagne.

Snakes being over-heated can also cause neurological symptoms, along with the other suggestions in above posts. And maybe it is associated with some abnormality she "came with" that is just now being expressed to where it's noticeable?

Well good news is she still has great feeding response since she almost jumped out of the cage to get rat tonight since it's dinner night. She did also have a recent shed that went really well. I am going to keep an eye on her. I do know I need to move her to bigger enclosure and that's next on my list since she's gotten quite big.

She does live in my bedroom with me so I am in there a lot with her but that's also been pretty consistent over her whole life. Temps and humidity are in the right range, though we have had a big heat wave so I've turned the AC on because I also have geckos in my room who need to stay under 80. Current ambient temp in her cage is 81. Humidity 56%. Because it's warm I did think to turn off the under tank heater on her cool side. It is run with a thermostat and I keep it set at 80 for cool side during cold months. I hadn't turned it off, but now it is. Her warm side has a UTH with thermostat set to 90 so she has options. Both sides have enclosed hides for her.

I can't pinpoint any other changes beyond that. She's always had a slight head tremor which I chalked up again to her being a bit of a special needs hatchling and usually it'd show up when she was trying to strike for food. She doesn't have the best aim but eats enthusiastically. But it's been this past week I've seen her really corkscrew.

Could you provide a picture of her? Also where did you get her from, a reputable breeder or a pet store or shady breeder?

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Originally Posted by kimmu

Well good news is she still has great feeding response since she almost jumped out of the cage to get rat tonight since it's dinner night. She did also have a recent shed that went really well. I am going to keep an eye on her. I do know I need to move her to bigger enclosure and that's next on my list since she's gotten quite big.

She does live in my bedroom with me so I am in there a lot with her but that's also been pretty consistent over her whole life. Temps and humidity are in the right range, though we have had a big heat wave so I've turned the AC on because I also have geckos in my room who need to stay under 80. Current ambient temp in her cage is 81. Humidity 56%. Because it's warm I did think to turn off the under tank heater on her cool side. It is run with a thermostat and I keep it set at 80 for cool side during cold months. I hadn't turned it off, but now it is. Her warm side has a UTH with thermostat set to 90 so she has options. Both sides have enclosed hides for her.

I can't pinpoint any other changes beyond that. She's always had a slight head tremor which I chalked up again to her being a bit of a special needs hatchling and usually it'd show up when she was trying to strike for food. She doesn't have the best aim but eats enthusiastically. But it's been this past week I've seen her really corkscrew.

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That's great that she has a strong feeding response & she's apparently in good hands- I hope her corkscrewing issue doesn't get worse or present any problems. You may never know what caused it, but I sure wouldn't breed her, that's all.

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Originally Posted by Erie_herps

Could you provide a picture of her? Also where did you get her from, a reputable breeder or a pet store or shady breeder?

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https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...53ca7cd7_z.jpg

This is an older pic but it shows her missing eye pretty well. I got from a breeder at reptile show. She was labeled as having a missing eye when I got her and was noted she shouldn't be used as a breeding animal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That's great that she has a strong feeding response & she's apparently in good hands- I hope her corkscrewing issue doesn't get worse or present any problems. You may never know what caused it, but I sure wouldn't breed her, that's all.

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Oh she will never be breed. She's my one and only snake and she will remain that way. I am glad it's not impairing her ability to eat or appetite. It just seems like it must be tiring to do over and over, as someone who has a physical tick of my own I have trouble controlling.

That's really cool that you took her on despite her imperfections, but when you come right down to it, none of us are perfect either. Many want or expect their pets to be "perfect" but mostly it just means that their imperfections are less obvious, or that they show up later. Just enjoy her for who she is. :snake: